Heaven: At the Movies

Comments

Being a slave to the screen is a fairly current issue, as is media spin affecting politics.

Yeah, I shouldn't have been so slapdash in my suggestion that there was nothing original about the film. My comments were mostly related to the aforementioned gender-dynamics.

The whole idea of heroes being passe, and in need of revival, is also one probably something more current today than, say, fifty years ago(though I think, historically, it might enjoy cyclical revivals).

I like my action films. Anything with Stallone, Arnie or Bruce in is fine by me. But Mission Impossible Fallout was awful.

I liked the first one, gave the others in between a miss and was persuaded to go and watch the latest one. I should have listened to my inner voice which was telling me that the law of diminishing returns was at work here.

At two-and-a-half hours it was about an hour too long. At 90 minutes it would have worked. They could have got rid of quite a few plot lines that just added confusion to the plot, and probably ended up with a reasonably good action thriller.

As it was they ended up with a confusing mish-mash of ideas, tedious morality speeches and big-budget special effects.

The only thing I remember (after a full week since I watched it) is that there was a pretty good helicopter crash (although the chase that preceded it was too long) and that Tom Cruise is looking old! I think, like Stallone, Arnie and Bruce, he needs to start picking action scripts for their irony and self-deprecating humour.

I recently saw Still Alice, in which Julianne Moore plays a linguist who develops early onset Alzheimer's. Solid film, good performances, and a must-see for anyone who finds themselves dealing with a loved one's dementia.

Saw The Return of the Hero on Sunday. Enjoyable-enough comedy about a beloved who goes off to war, forgets about his fiancée, so her sister writes letters from him, making him a hero. Then he returns. Not the best comedy, but definitely not the worst. Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments for me. Great actors and sets too.

Last week I saw another comedy, Jealous. This was a dark comedy, and I'm still not sure what to make of it. It concerns a middle-aged woman who becomes jealous of everyone around her and becomes quite horrid. Very funny in parts, painful in others, I did generally "enjoy" it. It was a unique take on life.

I have returned from the 16th annual Capitolfest movie festival held in the beautiful Capitol Theater in the not-so-beautiful Rome, NY. This was my fifth time attending (for those of you keeping count). As always, the festival concentrated on Very Old Movies and the silents were accompanied by live organ music played by a variety of highly skilled organists on a gorgeous old theater organ. Truly, the organists are brilliant and I always leave in awe at their abilities.

The earliest film in the bunch was from 1911, a 12-minute short called “On The Brink.” It is most notable for starring Lois Weber, who is often credited as the first woman to direct a feature film (“The Merchant of Venice” in 1914). She apparently co-directed this short as well. She became a studio director with Universal, and eventually founded her own company in 1917. Women directors were sort of a sub-theme in this year’s festival as several films shown boasted of them, including “The Coming of Sunbeam” (1913) directed by Alice Guy Blaché (who had directed shorts as far back as 1896!); “The Call of the Cumberlands” (1916) directed by Julia Crawford Ivers; and “A Daughter of the Law” (1921) directed by Grace Cunard.

The most recent film shown was from, well (cough, cough) 2018. But it was just a brief feature concerning the saving of the film “Mamba” (1930), which was also shown. “Mamba” was Hollywood’s first all-talking AND all-color (Technicolor) feature-length drama. It was put out by Tiffany Pictures which, after seeing the response to sound, decided to gamble on color as well. It was quite a gamble--they made duplicate costumes just in case creditors came and seized one set! The picture did well, but not well enough: Tiffany Pictures folded in 1932, and most of its nitrate prints were destroyed. However, a copy of “Mamba” had made its way to Australia, where it eventually fell into the hands of a husband-and-wife team of collectors. She loved films, he loved the mechanics of projecting films (collecting several projectors). They owned the only known copy of "Mamba." The problem was that films of that period had sound on disks separate from the films, and they only had 4 of the 9 sound disks. However, a complete set of disks existed elsewhere and the restoration of the film could continue. A minor problem arose in that the sound disks had a scene that the Australian censors had cut (this was handled on the film shown at Capitolfest by showing still photos of the production while the sound played). “Mamba” starred Jean Hersholt. You may recognize the name from the “Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award” giving at the Academy Awards. The funny thing is that, in this film, Hersholt does not play a humanitarian, but a despicable, loathsome, manipulative man.

Speaking of film preservation, another oddity is a short called “Princess Lady Bug” (1930) (10 minutes). The sound disk for this one was broken and was missing a pie-shaped chunk stretching from the center to the edge. The Library of Congress used technological wizardry to restore the film, using a process that “predicted” what the missing sound was based on an analysis of what had gone before. It sounds impossible, but watching the film you really cannot tell what part the computer filled in. Although, as a friend pointed out to me, if you think about a disk spinning on a record player, even a fairly large gap would barely equate to one second of time, so that does make it seem more probable that the computer could fill in the gap.

The featured star for this year’s festival was Ronald Colman. He is best known for such films as “Lost Horizon,” “The Prisoner of Zenda,” “If I Were King,” “Random Harvest” and “The Late George Apley”--none of which were shown. He was shown on a number of films, both silent and sound. Probably the best was “Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back” (1934). Colman had played Drummond before in “Bulldog Drummond” (1929). “…Strikes Back” is pretty much a standard mystery of the period--but it walks a careful line of almost parodying those films. There are several amusing moments in the over-the-top plot. The villain, Prince Achmed, is played by Warner Oland (most famous for his portrayal of Charlie Chan). Colman and Oland play it to the hilt, but the best part is the performance of Charles Butterworth playing Drummond’s friend, Algy. The movie started with Algy’s marriage--and the rest of the movie plays out on his wedding night as Drummond keeps calling him away from his bride to help with the mystery. Butterworth plays the part with an unflappable calmness and droll humor that is delightful. It is rather a pity that Colman and Butterworth didn’t make more Bulldog Drummond films, because they made a great on-screen team.

As always, there were a few surprises at the festival. “The Mad Game” (1933) is a film taking aim at the kidnapping racket (done a year after the famous Lindbergh Kidnapping). What was shocking is a segment with the film’s star, Spencer Tracy, urging government restrictions on guns and asserting that nobody has a justifiable need to own a “machine gun.” And this is in 1933: it is not a new issue, folks! The film is also interesting in that it requires, about halfway through the movie, that Spencer Tracy’s face change so that nobody can recognize him. I have to say, they almost pulled it off. His features were made a little cartoonish with inserts (in the cheeks and under the lips) and the like (heavy eyebrows, for example), but it did effectively disguise his appearance. The make-up was reminiscent of the make-up he later wore as Mr. Hyde in “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” (1941).

However, the real “find” of the festival was a silent 62-minute Western called “The Stolen Ranch” (1926), direct by William Wyler. Wyler directed “Mrs. Miniver” (1942), “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946), and “Ben-Hur” (1959). Obviously, this was an early effort, but some of the framing on the shots was excellent. The story starts during World War I (or, rather, “The Great War” because they didn’t know then that they would need to start numbering them). A sub-plot includes the hero’s friend suffering from shell-shock (not the typical subject for a Western!). The hero (played by Fred Humes) also has a nice romance going with the female lead (played by Louise Lorraine), which develops in a nice natural progression. There is a lovely scene with her peeling potatoes and tossing them over her shoulder at him, who casually catches them (sometimes under his leg and once spearing it with his knife), leading to a payoff of another character walking in and our hero’s hand darting in front of his face to catch a potato. That last catch was a separate shot, but the rest were pretty much done all in one scene. I can’t imagine how long they practiced that routine before they filmed it! Of all the films of this festival, this is the only one that I would like a copy of.

William Wyler was another sub-theme of the weekend, as he also directed two other features shown: “The Storm” (1930) (set in Canada) and “Her First Mate” (1933). Wyler’s daughter was present at the festival and spoke briefly.

Next year’s featured stars will be Frances Dee and Joel McCrea. They were married for 57 years and their son has agreed to come to next year’s Capitolfest to talk about them. They met on the set of “The Silver Cord” (1933) so I am betting that will be one of the films shown!

I've just been informed, told, ordered - whichever word you like - by SWMBO, that I have to go and watch The Meg tomorrow evening. I will let you all know what I think of it afterwards and whether it should be nominated for any Oscars.

Some years ago (I think that it was in 2006), the Toronto International Film Festival gave selected directors the opportunity to curate a film and give a talk or Q&A about it. Peter Bogdanovich gave a wonderful talk to introduce a new(!) print La Grande Illusion (he was good friends with Renoir). Bogdanovich was given an award for his energetic work for film preservation. The other was Closely Watched Trains, truly a classic, but apparently it was almost impossible to find a print. TIFF is pretty good for bringing back old stuff. More recently I've seen Gun Crazy (fascinating both as film and as sociology) and The Goddess (1930?) Chinese film about a prostitute trying to support her son.

I mostly watched this because I found a cheap copy on DVD, war movies made before the 1960s not really being my general taste. But I thought it was pretty good, well-written and acted, and fast paced, with only a little bit of dubiously-inserted romantic interest to slow things down(the Navy apparently had some input into this, and I'm wondering if they insisted on the romantic angle to dispel certain prevalent innuendo about sailors. But I digress.)

I have only seen a handful of other films with Bogart, and I don't have sufficient familiarity with his career to know if playing a mentally unbalanced individual was off-the-beaten-path for him. I think he normally did rugged, self-assured types? Anyway, he does a good job of making the character both unwell and pitiable, in preparation for

Fred MacMurray turning out to tbe the real villain of the piece.

And as someone who had only known him for his cameos on Newhart("I'll catch you later Laudon") and a few other late-career obscurities, it was interesting to see Jose Ferrer in his classic era. He did a pretty good job as the reluctant defense attorney.

I had a few appointments on Thursday, but it didn't make sense to go home between two of them, so I went to a movie instead. (It's nice to use the theater AC in this weather!)

I wanted to see either Christopher Robin or Ant-Man and the Wasp. The timing didn't work out for either of them, so I saw Hotel Transylvania 3 instead. And, I was the only one in the theater, since all the kiddos are back in school. And, for clarification, I had seen numbers 1 and 2 with Daughter-Unit, so understood the dynamics and characters.

Well, it's a cute movie. When Granddaughter-Unit was smaller, I think she would have enjoyed seeing it with me! The plot is basically this: Dracula is lonely. His daughter plans a cruise that's especially for monsters.

The cruise director is the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, and it's her job to kill (make him really, really dead) Dracula!

Of course, there are shenanigans and rescues and love is in the air and blah blah blah.

I think I had a better time than my friends who wasted their money watched the latest Tom Cruise movie.

I saw Far from the Tree today. Andrew Solomon, who wrote the book and presents the film, is one of my absolute heroes. The film is admittedly something of a Reader's Digest version of the (excellent) book, but it's very affecting to see the families on screen. It really challenges one (or at least it challenged me) to think about what it means to "respect the dignity of every human being."

...I have only seen a handful of other films with Bogart, and I don't have sufficient familiarity with his career to know if playing a mentally unbalanced individual was off-the-beaten-path for him. I think he normally did rugged, self-assured types?

Bogart did do the negative extreme of criminals and sociopaths, particularly in The Petrified Forest (Wikipedia mentions a character ironically calling him "the last great apostle of rugged individualism" ) and The Roaring Twenties (in a WWI scene, his character gratuitously shoots a German seconds before the Armistice is officially declared).

...I have only seen a handful of other films with Bogart, and I don't have sufficient familiarity with his career to know if playing a mentally unbalanced individual was off-the-beaten-path for him. I think he normally did rugged, self-assured types?

Bogart did do the negative extreme of criminals and sociopaths, particularly in The Petrified Forest (Wikipedia mentions a character ironically calling him "the last great apostle of rugged individualism" ) and The Roaring Twenties (in a WWI scene, his character gratuitously shoots a German seconds before the Armistice is officially declared).

Thanks for the input.

In Caine, he ultimately doesn't come off so much as a criminal or sociopath, just as pathetic, with some trace of the original meaning of that word. I think he's supposed to be what we would today call bipolar, and maybe obsessive compulsive, and I ended up more just feeling sorry for the guy.

Commensurate with that, the mutiny

is actually a relatively gentle affair, not a violent wrestling of power from a sadistic tyrant. The mutineers basically just say "Okay, captain, we're taking over this ship, because you clearly don't know what you're doing."

To the cinema with a goddaughter and children aged 12 and 10 to see Christopher Robin. Not a film for children under 8 or 9 I'd say. Starts well enough but then descends into sickly-sweet platitude - entirely living up to being made by Disney.

I hadn't thought that a film called Kinky Boots would be up my street at all, but I saw it last week, and loved it. It's a heart-warming tale (based on a true story) of a Northampton shoe factory that changes from making men's brogues to the kinky boots of the title after the owner meets a drag queen who can't find a pair of boots with a decent heel. The drag queen, Lola, is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and he is marvellous in the role.

Basically, the Bridesmaids aesthetic overlaid onto a neo-Cold War thriller, with all the usual cliches(up to and including killer East European gymnasts) laid out over several European cities. I got the impression that the writers might have concoted the script while doing their gap-year tour of the continent. If you're a fan of homances, or just wanna spend a couple of hours on mindless but scenic entertainment, it might be worth a look.

Searching

John Cho(of Harold and Kumar fame, now breaking into his own as a serious actor) plays a father looking for his missing daughter via the internet and other interactive media. Story told entirely via computer screen, cell phone, CCTV, etc.

I'm usually one who has a tough time following thrillers with multiple twists, but this one is pretty clear in its shifts, and in fact, takes the trouble to spell it all out explicitly for bozos like me. It pretty much adheres to all the usual tricks, but if you can forgive the reliance on genre formula, it's a fairly enjoyable ride. I do have somewhat mixed feelings about the

script's insistence on imposing the usual implausible happy ending on the affair. Granted, in a film of this nature, having the girl end up dead would probably be emotionally unpalatable.

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The Butler

I suspect a few people here have already seen this. Made For TV-ish, quasi-epic biopic about an African American White House butler, and his view of racial politics from the 1950s to 2000s. I'm a sucker for anything political, so it was worth the time and money, though I wouldn't say it blew me away with its insight. Pays a bit more attention to the development of the civil-rights movement(the butler's son is a black activist of increasingly militant views) than is typical in this sort of thing.

And I wonder. Did the casting directors sit down and say "Okay, let's see if we can get the most wacked-out choices of actors to play the presidents"? I mean, Robin Williams as Eisenhower, Liev Schreiber as Johnson, John Cusack as Nixon, and Alan Rickman(!) as Reagan? I can't exactly say they delivered bad performances(Cusack clearly made an effort to get Nixon's mannerisms down), but I never really had the idea that I was looking at the men themselves. (Granted, I don't exactly know how Eisenhower sounded or carried himself.)

It's also got the usual romantiziation of Camelot, at the expense of LBJ. Which I think is pretty widely known to be inaccurate.

And I wonder. Did the casting directors sit down and say "Okay, let's see if we can get the most wacked-out choices of actors to play the presidents"?

I've yet to see the film, but it might be they sat down and said "We've a film about a black man set in a particularly polarising time, with a difficult (for white Americans) situation. How do we get white audience to come to the theatre?" Not saying those choices make sense even so.That is some seriously weird stunt casting.

Last night, Mrs Teasdale and I watched the UK version of the "Death at a Funeral". It is about 10 years old now but a wonderfully funny film, filled with UK character actors playing for fun. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it and I won't give any spoilers, other than to say that you need to keep your eyes on the bottle of "valium".

I watched the Israeli film "The Women's Balcony" on Netflix. I really enjoyed it. It is a slice of life in a small synagogue community in Jerusalem with a battle of the sexes and an attempted hostile take over by a young rabbi who is sure that he has all the answers. I love being a fly on the wall in this community with its quirks and characters.

Crazy Rich Asians
Yes, it is a chick flick, rom com and I typically don't see those. But I didn't know that is what it was when I went in and I am glad I didn't. It is funny, well written and acted. And if the plot is predictable,* the elements composing it are still well worth watching and there are little surprises throughout. Strong performances despite the light catagory, some of the secondary roles outshine the main actors. It is easy to see why this film is performing so well and another example that melanin doesn't drag down the box office.

*I mean, come on, it isCinderella, after all. But the characters were delightful and the humour sometimes warm and sometimes hilarious. "Asian Ellen"

I've got a bit of a backlog to cover, so for now, I'll just go with...

50 SHADES FREED

The third installment in the series, with at least three loosely patched together plot strands, ie. the couple are facing challenges adjusting to married life;

an old business rival of the couple kidnaps one of their relatives(I can't even remember who, and it was just last night I watched it); and Ana is pregnant.

Really just a fluffy romantic drama about newlyweds with a bit of BDSM tossed in(it hardly even seems thematically relevant this time around). Mostly of interest to anyone who cares about the characters from the first two installments, and linguistically challenged expats desperate for something to watch in English.

As in "c**ck blockers", ie. someone who tries to prevent someone else from getting laid.

As the title suggests, garden-variety raunch comedy, about a group of uptight(to varying degrees) parents who try to thwart their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night. Slightly redeemed by a couple of feminist touches(eg. a parent from outside the group critically analyzing the double standard, nothing cutting-edge, but pretty theoretical for a film of this sort), and a number of competently observed 21st Century comedy-of-manner moments.

Anyone else see "A Star Is Born"? I thought Lady Gaga was phenomenal, and the end was heart-wrenchingly sad. I flat-out cried. The issues of artistic authenticity and what goes into making a star were interesting, especially considering Gaga's career of authentic artifice.

And I had the same thought I always have when I see depictions of superstar life: why on earth would anyone want to live like that?

Feel-good comedy about an impoverished fishing village in Quebec trying to lure a coke-snorting, cricket-loving anglo doctor from Montreal to set up a practice in town, in order to meet the insurance qualifications to open a factory. Probably crosses the line from cute into cutesy, with paint-by-numbers smalltown quirkiness and sentimentalization of old-school Quebec life, but probably worth seeing if you can set the cynicism aside for a few hours and enjoy the ride. Fairly well plotted and scripted.

Is "Seducing Dr. Lewis" in English, or in French with English subtitles, stetson? It was remade a few years ago as "The Grand Seduction" with the story re-set in Newfoundland (so, smalltown quirkiness and sentimentalization of Newfoundland outport life instead), but I thought the original movie was French-language.

Anyone else see "A Star Is Born"? I thought Lady Gaga was phenomenal, and the end was heart-wrenchingly sad. I flat-out cried. The issues of artistic authenticity and what goes into making a star were interesting, especially considering Gaga's career of authentic artifice.

And I had the same thought I always have when I see depictions of superstar life: why on earth would anyone want to live like that?

Saw it a couple of nights ago, actually. The plot didn't come as a complete novelty to me, based on hearing descriptions of the first two films(neither of which I've seen, but it's a fairly straightforward premise). Yeah, I enjoyed it, and I thought the cinematography especially was quite impressive(and I'm not usually someone who pays a lot of attention to that).

And while I know we were supposed to dislike the heartless manager(stereotypical British villain) for pushing Maine over the edge, the fact that Maine already had the pills in his truck might indicate that the manager was essentially correct about what he would do to Ally's fortunes. And you can't really expect someone managing a singer's career to approve of what Maine did at the Grammy's.

Is "Seducing Dr. Lewis" in English, or in French with English subtitles, stetson? It was remade a few years ago as "The Grand Seduction" with the story re-set in Newfoundland (so, smalltown quirkiness and sentimentalization of Newfoundland outport life instead), but I thought the original movie was French-language.

Yes, it's almost entirely in French, even when the cricket-loving anglo is shown in his Montreal habitat. I think the ONLY exception is when he shouts "That's not cricket!" while watching a match on TV.

Unfortunately, films don't have the extended runs that they did 'back in the day', so I don't know whether it's still in release, but.... Alpha, a fictional account of man's relationship with wolf 20,000 years ago in what is now Europe. Of course, there is a lot of anthropological speculation involved in this, but to my unprofessional eye, they made a valiant attempt. A linguist at UBC developed a language for the film. Anthony Burgess did the same for Quest For Fire, though he reverse-engineered to a proto-Indo-European, whereas she was working in a non-Indo-European language; I don't know what her method was. A young man and an injured wolf, separated from their respective packs, make common cause to survive. Not such a stretch, in that humans and wolves are cooperative hunters. It was good enough that I saw it twice (and may yet again, depending on its schedule and mine). Aaarrrrooooo! (And, if you haven't guessed, I am a dog lover.)

Surprisingly(though not distressingly) bleak film about the first moon landing, focused as much on the family and social angst of Neil Armstrong as on the technology and gadgets. Sort of the Space Program Done Up As 60s Suburban Psychodrama. Which is not an entirely far-fetched rendition, considering the losses endured in both the private lives of the astronauts, and the space program itself.

The sober tone is only slightly redeemed by the positive ending(spoiler: they make it to the moon), which is more reflective than triumphant in tone. The lack of chest-thumping nationalism was apparently a source of controversy among certain sections of the American intelligentisa. (Sarcasm aside, that is a totally moronic point, the landing is shown from the POV of the astronauts, and patriotic gestures are not likely to strike someone who is walking on the moon for the first time as the most significant aspect of the adventure.)

We went to see Bohemian Rhapsody last night. The casting and subsequent make up is brilliant - it WAS Queen on the screen, and the music was great. The main failing was the 40 minutes of adverts first 😡

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a NZ film from 2016. Saw it on telly last night and it was brill. Here is the trailer.

We saw this on Netflix a while back. Agree with your review. I'd recommend "Okja" which we also saw on Netflix about a loving genetically modified super pig, the people who love her, and the bad people who want to do bad things. It has the same quirkiness and mood as Wilderpeople. Entirely different setting: Korea. Entirely different plot. I

Joaquin Phoenix as a vigilante-for-hire, who specializes in rescuing girl's from sex trafficking(pretty sure that's a made-up job, but I'd be interested to hear otherwise), and gets caught up in a case involving political intrigue.

Sort of a moodier, more barebones rendition of Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa, with Taxi Driver as a possible ancestor as well. The same director did We Need To Talk About Kevin, though this one isn't quite as self-important.

Red Sparrow
Frankly I found this film exploitative, formulaic and dull. I'm told Ms Lawrence is considered to be a fine actress but I'm not finding her to be so on this showing. I'd give it a maximum of 2 stars out of 5.

She is. I would not let your dislike of this film influence the watching of her other work. With the caveat that some of them are pure popcorn flicks.

Track down Joy. It’s fantastic.

Also, I’ve been impressed with everything I have seen Tracey Letts do. Did y’all know he wrote the play “August, Osage County “?

Also, you bet your buttons Lady Bird is on my Must Watch list. ( btw, did you catch Greta’s lovely turn in Jackie?)

Also, also: Novitiate. Anybody see it yet? I’ve watched it three times already. Beautifully shot, perfectly cast, great script. The story follows a 17 year old novitiate of the Order of the Sacred Rose as she grapples with the meaning of love, devotion, and human connection, at the dawn of Vatican II transitions. In the background, severe Mother Superior Melissa Leo fumes and grieves over the effective status demotion ( in her POV) of the sisterhood. But it’s Margaret Qualley ( Sister Cathleen) who really comes in as MVP.

it is very Guillermo del Toro. Essentially a very GdT remake of the The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Not so much a reworking of the original script, but a reworking of the concept.
I enjoyed it, but it was very GdT. I don’t think one necessarily has to be a fan of his to like the film; but if you are, you will.

I also got a Jeunet vibe off of it. Specifically, it really reminded me strongly of Delicatessen.

We went to see Bohemian Rhapsody last night. The casting and subsequent make up is brilliant - it WAS Queen on the screen, and the music was great. The main failing was the 40 minutes of adverts first 😡

Saw it the other night. I went back and forth between quite liking it, and finding it a little underwhelming. Overall, despite the presence of two major cinematic talents(Bryan Singer and Peter Morgan) in the creative process, it ended up seeing like one of those quickie biopics that breezes through the subject matter with a minimum of attention to setting and context, eg. the first Steve Jobs film(with Ashton Kutcher), and Lovelace(about the porn star).

I never really got the feeling the I was being immersed in the 1970s glam-music scene: apart from the references to a few other top performers here and there, it really could have been any time in rock music history(in fairness, Queen's own music, as a deliberate effect, does not really wear the garb of any particular time or place). Mostly, the focus was just on the band, with a rather cliched rags-to-riches-to-selling-out-your-bandmates-to-reconciliation narrative arch. Which admittedly was fairly interesting, since Queen in comparison to other major rock groups, Queen has fairly low-profile private lives.

Interesting to see the bit about Mercury's estrangement from his family, though the treatment of that was fairly touch-and-go. But I'm sure I'm not the only person who was touched by the portrayal of his long-term relationship with his wife, including their post-breakup friendship.

And as a huge fan of cinematic in-jokes, I chuckled when

a character played by Mike Myers opined that Bohemian Rhapsody will never become the kind of song that young men would bang their heads to while speeding down the street in their cars. I'm guessing they casted him just for the purpose of having him deliver that line.

Just came back from seeing a documentary called Kedi, about the street cats in Istanbul--and the people who care for them. It is an interesting study: the independence and personality of the cats, who still bond with certain select individuals. It is available from YouTube Red, and it is on iTunes.